European stocks tumble on Portugal, confidence; DAX down 1.04%
Published Jan 30, 2012 12:30PM ET
After the close of European trade, the EURO STOXX 50 gave back 1.31%, France's CAC 40 dropped 1.60%, while Germany's DAX dipped 1.04% Meanwhile, in the U.K. the FTSE fell 1.09%.
Euro zone fears were stroked as the yield on Portugal’s ten year bonds soared 199 basis points hitting a euro era record of 17.22%. Credit default swaps also climbed to a record in the struggling nation, indicating a 71% chance the government will default.
Greece’s private creditors signaled they will accept European government demands for a larger decrease in their debt holdings, as well as a debt deal is expected within the next several days.
An index of consumer and executive sentiment in the euro zone climbed less than expected to 93.4 from a revised 92.8 in December. Economists were expecting a rise to 93.8.
The first European leader summit of 2012 began in Brussels. Topics of discussion include a German led deficit control treaty, the Greek situation, and the statutes of a EUR500 billion rescue fund to be set up later in the year.
In other news, France proposed a 0.1% financial transaction tax applying to stock purchases, high frequency trading, and CDS transactions. The government expects to earn revenue of EUR1 billion from the tax.
BNP Paribas fell 6.5% and Societe Generale dropped 5.5% in reaction to the French financial tax proposal, as well as Bank of America’s downgrade of BNP Paribas to “underperform”.
Europe’s largest independent steel trader, Kloeckner & Co plunged 7.5% after the CEO forecasted declining European steel demand.
ABB Ltd. gave back 2.2% after the power distribution equipment company agreed to purchase Thomas & Betts Corp for USD3.9 billion to expand its North American network.
In the U.S., shares are trading lower mid session with the DOW down 0.70%, the S&P 500 giving back 0.71% and the Nasdaq falling 0.35%
Investors are awaiting German retail sales figures as well as, U.S. consumer confidence numbers on Tuesday.
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Written By: Investing.com
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